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BlackRock Investment Institute’s global chief investment strategist Wei Li presenting at the AFR Business Summit last March.

The $18.4trn reason to listen to BlackRock’s three lessons in 2025

Wall Street and its biggest investors like the global investment giant influence the ASX more than anything else. That’s why you need to listen.

Local shares are set to open higher.

ASX lifts but utilities, miners weigh; IDP leaps

Australian shares rise on improved consumer confidence. Nine, IDP shares soar. Iron ore gloom weighs on Fortescue, Rio. Bitcoin tops $101,000.

Macquarie has largely failed to grow its business lending book at the pace of its competitors month-to-month.

Maverick Macquarie misfires as its business bet starts cold

The share of business lending commanded by Australia’s fifth major bank has flat-lined since last February.

Virtical boss may have acted as shadow director after resigning

Administrators say John Palasty controlled key accounts and operations despite resigning from the company that owned Hotel Australasia and a luxury resort project.

Is 2025 the inflexion point for the office market?

The nation’s office market has been battered by surging interest rates and the rise of flexible work. Building values have fallen. But that could change this year.

Metrics takes over Melbourne site to rescue $750m project

The private credit firm, one of the country’s largest, says taking over the project is the best way to protect investors after a sales process failed.

RBA should cut rates and not be fooled by trimmed mean inflation

The actual inflation rate Australian consumers and businesses feel is now within the designated target range of 2-3 per cent. The RBA should not ignore this, writes Craig Emerson.

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SUMMER REVIEW

Trudeau with Donald Trump at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago estate in November.

Immigration, voter fatigue killed Trudeau. Not Trump

It’s easy to blame the US president-elect for everything but what brought the Canadian prime minister down is more retail politics than global conspiracies.

Ireland’s Kellie Harrington celebrates after winning a match in Paris. Boxing has long been a key sport at the modern Olympics but its future is in doubt.

How boxing’s ‘Mr Kremlin’ controls the sport

The IBA failed in its bid to upset competition in Paris, but its president, Russian power broker Umar Kremlev, has Olympic insiders worried about the future of the sport.

Regis Aged Care CEO Linda Mellors said learning about generative AI was one of her key lessons in 2024.

The most important lessons these CEOs learnt in 2024

Celebrating your wins, staying grounded and embracing generative AI were some of the key things these top business leaders took away from last year. 

We’re divorced – but we still live in the same house

If a couple can move beyond bitterness and learn the art of empathic communication, a no-split divorce might be an option. It certainly makes good financial sense.

AI’s next big (risky) thing: Special agents to organise your life

Tasks that would have taken a month can now be done in an hour, but people will be exposing a lot more digital information, raising privacy and security concerns.

Companies

Laura Caspari, Managing Director of renewables at Engie

Engie woos data centres to set up near wind and solar farms

The French utility giant has ambitious plans to help meet Australia’s clean energy targets, but its executives say we need to think outside the box.

Amanda Laing was Nine’s managing director until 2017. She went on to work for Foxtel, but left last year.

Amanda Laing firms for mega Nine broadcast job amid restructure

The former Foxtel executive left the News Corp-run pay television business last year. She could soon oversee Nine’s television, radio and Stan.

Insignia Financial CEO Scott Hartley.

CC Capital bids $2.9b for Insignia in private equity shootout

The New York-headquartered private equity firm lobbed a cash bid, trumping Bain Capital’s rejected offer.

The market’s up but earnings are down. Is that about to change?

Earnings turning point gives ASX bears plenty to think about

Shares prices have raced away while company profits have gone backwards. What happens if earnings start going up, too?

Why housing affordability is now a top problem for CEOs

Business leaders say high house prices and skyrocketing rents are affecting where people choose to work and making it harder to find talent.

Top super investors dash pre-election rate cut hopes

But they say investors should be optimistic about inflation easing despite later cuts and risks associated with Donald Trump taking the White House.

Australia’s next robot farm wants to grow your burger garnish

Investors have lost billions on vertical farming start-ups, but a Gold Coast business says it has a model that stacks up, luring investment from Tribeca and Tayside.

Companies in the News

Search companies

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Markets

Ray Dalio founded Bridgewater and remains there as a mentor.

Bridgewater sacks 7pc of staff in bid to remain ‘nimble’

The Ray Dalio-founded world’s biggest hedge fund, which manages more than $250 billion, sacked about 90 employees.

UniSuper’s John Pearce and Rest Super interim co-CIO Simon Esposito acknowledge the risk of the sector’s size, but say super provides stability through deep, patient pools of capital.

Super admits its size is a risk but says ‘what is the alternative?’

The managers of Australia’s $4.1 trillion retirement savings pool say they are best placed to invest in banks and private lending despite warnings from the RBA and IMF.

Cbus chief investment officer Brett Chatfield and Aware Super CIO Damian Graham are among money managers expecting the Reserve Bank to begin cutting rates at its May or July meeting.

Top super investors dash pre-election rate cut hopes

But they say investors should be optimistic about inflation easing despite later cuts and risks associated with Donald Trump taking the White House.

What happened overnight? Nvidia powers Wall St advance

Australian shares are set to open higher. Techs rallied ahead of speech by Nvidia’s CEO. Bitcoin leapt back above $US102,000.

Veteran financial crash survivor warns of 2025 Wall Street bubble

After successfully navigating some of the worst collapses in financial markets history, Perth’s Willy Packer says US shares are flashing red.

Opinion

Trudeau’s brutal legacy is failure to match soaring ambitions

After almost a decade at the top, his tenure will be remembered for poorly managing national decline and overseeing a lost decade.

Geoff Russ

Former Canadian journalist

Geoff Russ

Labor’s over the election barrel on Bruce Highway

It is fiscal integrity, more than political integrity, that is the concern as Labor embarks on what could be the start of an election spending spree.

The AFR View

Editorial

The AFR View

Mediscare ‘he said, she said’ insults voters’ intelligence

A Labor-Coalition electoral clash over bulk billing is not only foolish, but masks the fact that so much more needs to be done to keep our healthcare system fit for purpose.

Terry Barnes

Policy consultant

Terry Barnes

James Curran is wrong: ASPI is and will remain independent

Commentators are free to criticise research institutes critical of China but should focus on evidence, not innuendo.

The great ‘Asian dream’ has hit a roadblock

Across the continent, middle-class families are forced to rethink spending priorities as household wealth erodes. What can policymakers do?

Price must be right to put obesity drug on the PBS

It is vital the gatekeepers of the scheme hold the line on the cost benefits of blockbuster drugs.

Nick Coatsworth

Former deputy chief health officer

Nick Coatsworth

Reports

Wealth - the 2025 outlook

This special report talks to top fund managers for their stock market tips and the key risks to the economic outlook, and looks at options for fixed income.

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Politics

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in Rockhampton with Minister Catherine King, Senator Nita Green and Labor’s candidate for Capricornia, Emily Mawson.

PM ignored independent adviser on Queensland road spend

A bypass project that Anthony Albanese visited to spruik a $7.2 billion Bruce Highway outlay had failed a cost-benefit assessment by Infrastructure Australia.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at a press conference in Gympie, Queensland.

The problem with PM's $7.2b Qld road pledge

Anthony Albanese has caved to Queensland’s new premier to pay 80 per cent of a $9 billion upgrade of the Bruce Highway, igniting demands from three states.

Kevin Rudd,

Rudd puts his feet up for summer as world braces for Trump

Ambassador to the US and former prime minister Kevin Rudd has been watching cricket back home in Australia while Donald Trump assembles his new team.

Push for alcohol ‘cancer risk’ labels after new US advice

Public health advocates say calls by the US Surgeon General for warning labels on alcoholic drinks will drive momentum for their introduction in Australia.

Ice hockey tournament cancelled due to anti-Israel ‘security concerns’

The international event set to be held in Melbourne this year has been pulled over what organisers said were security fears due to anti-Israel protests in Victoria.

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World

Trudeau with Donald Trump at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago estate in November.

Immigration, voter fatigue undid Trudeau, not Trump

It’s easy to blame the US president-elect for everything but what brought the Canadian prime minister down is more retail politics than global conspiracies.

Trudeau announces his decision outside the official residence of the prime minister.

Canada’s Trudeau resigns as Liberal Party leader

The prime minister, who came to power in 2015, leaves with his party trailing the Conservatives 47 per cent to 21 per cent in the latest polls.

This photo provided by the North Korean government, shows what it says a test fire of new type intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile at an undisclosed place in North Korea.

North Korea tests hypersonic missile designed to hit Pacific targets

State media reports the intermediate-range missile is designed to strike remote targets in the Pacific; Australia takes steps to mend strained ties with Israel. How the day unfolded.

Why has Elon Musk reignited debate over UK rape gangs?

The billionaire has claimed that “hundreds of thousands” of “little British girls” were targeted for gang rape and murder. Why?

Starmer leads European pushback against ‘troll’ Musk

The leaders of Germany, France and the UK have all railed gainst the increasingly punchy political interventions from the X owner and Donald Trump confidant.

Property

Goodman’s development of hyperscale data centres like this one in Tokyo makes it a top pick for global REIT investors.

Goodman, Scentre among REITs set to bounce higher in 2025

A lack of new supply is expected to put more pricing power in the hands of landlords, meaning stronger earnings growth in 2025, say global investment managers.

One Vanderbilt in New York’s Midtown Manhattan.

What last year's top office deals reveal about 2025

Movement in the troubled office sector shows owners did what they had to do to strike a deal, pointing to more activity in 2025.

Marwood Property Group is planning to erect a New York-style charging bull statue outside the 432 St Kilda Road building has acquired for $28 million and will spend $5 million upgrading.

No bull, this developer just got a 33pc discount on an office tower

A local developer has ambitious plans – including a famous statue – for the Melbourne fringe office tower he says will be transformed by the Metro Rail opening.

House prices tipped to rise 3pc in 2025

This year is expected to be a tale of two halves, after interest rate relief revives buyers’ appetites. But if there are no rate cuts, all bets are off.

Where to buy a beautiful house for less than $200,000

With the cost of an average Australian home now around $815,000, anyone spending a quarter of that will marvel at the choice of tempting options in Europe.

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Wealth

The US-based IMF has argued that the rapid growth of private credit, coupled with increasing competition from banks on large deals and pressure to deploy capital, may lead to a deterioration in pricing and non-pricing terms.

This is where the next financial crisis could emerge

Private funds, which include venture capital, private equity, private debt, infrastructure, commodities and real estate, now dominate financial activity.

What to consider before giving your grandchildren money

Providing financial assistance can be rewarding, but give some thought to how it will affect your retirement, writes Jenneke Mills.

Three assets to sell right now and three to buy for 2025

Leading market strategists say it’s time to take a hard look at your portfolio and sell stocks that have been good to you.

Technology

Most new technologies have both benefits and costs, and sometimes the latter outweigh the former.

AI’s next big (risky) thing: Special agents to organise your life

Tasks that would have taken a month can now be done in an hour, but people will be exposing a lot more digital information, raising privacy and security concerns.

Robot puts a sock in it for world’s biggest gadget fest

CES – formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show – starts officially on Wednesday, but already a theme has emerged, and it doesn’t take AI to figure out what it is.

Didier Elzinga, co-founder and chief executive of Culture Amp, said the company’s cash flow had improved due to a focus on efficiency.

Culture Amp accounts reveal start-up’s big growth – and a sea of red

One of the country’s biggest private software companies, with a valuation of more than $2.4 billion, has lost $155 million over the past two years.

Work & Careers

Regis Aged Care CEO Linda Mellors said learning about generative AI was one of her key lessons in 2024.

The most important lessons these CEOs learnt in 2024

Celebrating your wins, staying grounded and embracing generative AI were some of the key things these top business leaders took away from last year. 

Private schools raise fees at three times rate of inflation

For a decade or more, private schools have increased their fees by far more than the CPI. This year is no different, and schools have a range of explanations.

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Life & Luxury

Safe and strong.

Weightlifting could take eight years off your body

A recent study suggests a link between weight training and a reduction in biological age for both men and women.

Robot puts a sock in it for world’s biggest gadget fest

CES – formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show – starts officially on Wednesday, but already a theme has emerged, and it doesn’t take AI to figure out what it is.

How to turn four weeks of leave into 49 days of holidays in 2025

As the summer silly season ends, the idea of returning to work for a whole new year can be overwhelming.

Patty Mills in the Utah Jazz game against Orlando Magic.

Patty Mills becomes first Aussie to play 1000 NBA games

The Boomers captain has written his name into the basketball history books following Utah’s 105-92 defeat of Orlando.

Smart #3 Brabus.

The Smart car is back, but not as you know it

The German-designed cars, now built in China, are fun and funky, yet still manage to carry a strong Mercedes-Benz flavour.

From the gallery